Current organ preservation techniques typically involve hypothermic storage of the organ in a chemical perfusate solution on ice. However, uses of conventional approaches results in injuries that increase as a function of the length of time an organ is maintained ex-vivo. These time restrictions limit the number of recipients who can be reached from a given donor site, thereby restricting the recipient pool for a harvested heart. Even within the few hour time limit, the heart may nevertheless be significantly damaged.
Effective preservation of an ex-vivo organ would also provide numerous other benefits. For instance, prolonged ex-vivo preservation would permit more careful monitoring and functional testing of the harvested organ. This would in turn allow earlier detection and potential repair of defects in the harvested organ, further reducing the likelihood of transplantation failure. The ability to perform simple repairs on the organ would also allow many organs with minor defects to be saved, whereas current transplantation techniques require them to be discarded. In addition, more effective matching between the organ and a particular recipient may be achieved, further reducing the likelihood of eventual organ rejection.
Improved ex-vivo organ care has been achieved through the use of an ex-vivo organ care system which maintains organs at physiologic or near-physiologic conditions. Not only does the system maintain the organ at physiologic temperatures, but in the case of the heart, the system maintains perfusate flow through the organ. In addition the system measures and monitors electric stimulation in the heart. The ex vivo organ care system where the heart sustained ex vivo at physiologic or near-physiologic conditions are described in application Ser. No. 11/822,495 entitled “Systems for monitoring and applying electrical currents in an organ perfusion system,” U.S. Pat. No. 8,304,181 entitled “Method for ex-vivo organ care and for using lactate as an indication of donor organ status,” and U.S. Pat. No. 8,409,846 entitled “Compositions, methods and devices for maintaining an organ,” which are incorporated herein by reference.
To maintain physiologic or near-physiologic perfusate flow through the heart, the organ must interface with the system via the aorta. This interface is achieved via an aortic cannula. Current aortic cannula designs lead to organ slippage, difficulties in maintaining a liquid tight seal, and damage to the aorta. Often these designs rely solely upon a cable tie in contact with the aorta to tighten the aorta to the aortic cannula. Depending on the size of the aorta and the size of the aortic cannula, there is a risk of laceration due to the cable ties exerting too much tension on aortic tissue, or the risk of leakage if they do not exert sufficient tension. Thus, there exists a need for an aortic cannula that is easy for health care workers to deploy, creates a tight seal with the aorta, reduces aortic slipping, and causes minimal damage to the aorta.
In view of the foregoing, improved devices for attaching the aorta to the system and methods of use in ex vivo organ care systems are needed.